The Dangers of Trees
by Neff Graham
Summary: Squirrels are not, under any circumstances, to be trusted. Maybe everything turned out okay, though. [A birthday present for FeistyDreams/moonlight-at-dawn/Misha. Slight Nozakura. Oneshot.]


**AN: This was a gift fic for ffn user FeistyDreams, who is nicolas-bendetto on tumblr. Misha has been a huge inspiration to me, not only as writer, but as a friend. I'm so grateful each and every day that I'm friends with somebody as fantastic as her, and I know that her little boy is lucky to see her everyday. Thank you for everything, Misha. You rock, and happy belated birthday!**

XXX

"Alright, guys, today we're going to be sketching outside! Our objective is to capture life as it is in nature- so far, we've just been doing posed models, but sometimes that can be a little forced. So today, landscapes and nature are our muse. Follow me!"

Chiyo scrambled to gather her notebooks and pencils in order to not get left behind as the art club left their usual room. She had been looking forward to this day for a while, as she loved being outside during springtime- the cherry blossoms made everything seem so much more romantic. Though that just might be the shoujo manga assistant in her speaking.

Stepping out into the schoolyard, Chiyo smiled and breathed in the warm spring air. As the members split up to find a spot that they liked on the grass, she immediately headed to a tree near the gate. That was her favorite place- after all, that was where she had met Nozaki-kun. She could remember so vividly still, the strength in his arms when he lifted her up, the determination in his features–

 _No, no, no! I need to be focusing on art right now, not Nozaki-kun!_ Chiyo slapped her cheeks to get herself out of her daze, and settled down beneath the tree. Taking a deep breath, she began to sketch one of the branches above her. The branch was waving slightly in the breeze, but wasn't moving so wildly that it was impossible to capture on paper. For 15 minutes, she concentrated on sketching the individual blossoms from below.

"Ah, so this is where you guys were."

A familiar voice that instantly made her heart start to throb broke the club's calm silence. Chiyo looked over at the president's spot and saw Nozaki bending over to look at the third year's sketchbook. A wave of irrational jealousy filled the petite ginger- why couldn't Nozaki be observing _her_? Then again, she probably wouldn't get anything drawn at all if she had to deal with the absolute love of her life watching over her shoulder.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice a squirrel grab the eraser by her side and climb up the tree until it was too late. "Ah! Seriously? That was my last one!"

Chiyo quickly stood up, and glared at the offending squirrel who seemed to be laughing at her suffering from its perch in the tree. "Alright, Mr. Squirrel, your reign ends today!" The small girl rolled up her sleeves, and began to attempt the climb up the tree to retrieve her stolen eraser.

Nozaki's attention turned in her direction when she shouted, and his concern grew when she started to climb the tree. She was thin, short, almost fragile-looking, and it looked like she hadn't climbed a tree in years. "Ah, Sakura! What are you doing?" He called to her, not knowing that her grip on one of the branches would slip, and she would be falling, falling, falling… four feet to the ground.

"Ow, ow ow…" Slowly, Chiyo sat up, realizing that some of the other club members, and Nozaki, surrounded her with concerned expressions.

"Hey, Chiyo-chan, are you alright? Why were you even trying to climb that tree?" The president questioned her as she simultaneously checked for any cuts or scrapes.

"Ugh, yeah, I think I'm fine… my back hurts a bit, though. But I don't think anything's broken, so I'm fine!" Grabbing onto the nearest hand offered to her, she used it as leverage to push herself off of the ground, and found herself face to face with Nozaki. Her cheeks glowed a bright red as she quickly pushed away from him, stuttering an apology.

"Sakura… it seems one of your ribbons got torn against the tree." Nozaki grasped the torn ribbon, untangling it from the ginger's mussed hair. "I'm sorry, I don't think it can be salvaged."

"Oh! That's okay, I have more ribbons at home…" Suddenly, Nozaki's fingers were combing through her hair and Chiyo found words impossible. She could say nothing as he gently untied the unharmed ribbon.

As the other members of the art club realized nothing was seriously wrong, they went back to their own sketchbooks. Meanwhile, Chiyo was still in a catatonic state as Nozaki played with her hair. She couldn't tell what he was doing at first, but it soon became evident that he was braiding her hair. Soon, the lovely sensation of his fingers combing through her locks ended, as he finished his self imposed task and tied the braid into place with the other ribbon.

"That looks better. Hm… you should tie your hair up like this more often, Sakura. It looks really nice. You look cute like that." He admired his own handiwork, thumb and forefinger cupping his chin as he gazed at her.

"T-th-thank you, No-Nozaki-kun!" _Ah… it seems like I still can't be alone with him without acting like a complete fool._ Shyly, she played with the end of the braid, and once she had calmed her nerves, glanced back up at Nozaki. "So, N-Nozaki-kun, why are you here? Didn't you have a deadline?"

"Oh, I finished that last night. You've been a really big help, Sakura. I'm not even really stressing about it anymore, because everything goes so much faster when I've got good friends like you to help me out. So thanks." His small smile, meant purely for her, made her stomach do somersaults. Even if he only saw her as a friend, it was nice to know that he didn't just see her as an assistant.

 _And he said I was cute!_ Internally, Chiyo considered wearing her hair in a braid for a few weeks.


End file.
